Leica cuts lenses by 12% – Save hundreds on Leica lenses now!

Leica cuts lenses by 12% – Save hundreds on Leica lenses now!

Leica is trying to boost sales so they cut lenses by 12% through May 31st 2015. B&H Photo has them all cut down HERE. Also, the other dealers that you can buy from that I highly recommend are Ken Hansen (khpny19@aol.com), PopFlash.com, Pro Shop for Photographers and Leica Store Miami! The 50 APO is in stock at B&H for nearly $1000 off!

Noctilux? SAVE OVER $1300

SAVE 12% through May 31st!!!

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28 Comments

  1. In the late 80s Leica was offering a $500 rebate on the M6 in the US. This on a camera that sold for $1800-2200. That was a much higher price off.

    A couple years later the M6 body shot up to $2800 US. After a year it went back down to $2300. These are massive fluctuations, more than 12%, and are not unprecedented. Who knows what those guys are thinking.

  2. I have often thought that Leica should cease making cameras and only make optics and outsource to cheaper locations and do what Zeiss have done.

    Then everybody would be happy ! cheap Leica optics that will fit on your Canon Nikon Sony or whatever camera or Smart Phone you happen to have.

    I think the world would be a little poorer without some iconic brands though – that’s just me the sentimental type.!

    Best Wishes

  3. 12% off an 8,000 dollar lens? I still can’t afford it, not that I would ever spend that much.

    • Agreed. The Zeiss ZM planar 50mm has so good iq. I don’t feel the need to get the apo 50mm with little Itty-bitty more iq.

  4. This is the first time I’ve seen the 50mm APO in stock anywhere. With economic slowdowns in China and the EU, Leica must be experiencing an inventory glut.

  5. I seriously doubt it has anything to do with Sony. Sony sales are actually quite poor. They are hemorrhaging money on the camera department. Sony’s sensor business is what keeps thme in the game (selling to Nikon etc). The Leica discount is due to the $ apreciation. Nikon and Canon have been doing the same thing.

    • Not true. Sony camera sales are about at the top of the mirrorless heap above Fuji, Olympus, Leica, etc. They are doing quite well right now.

      • a year ago sony had 40% of the mirrorless market… this has dropped to 30% in the last year. they are loosing a ton of money making cameras, they make money selling sensors to other manufactures. this is a fact. it doesn’t mean they don’t make very good products.

        • Did some more research on this. Sony’s camera division is bleeding money, as is Fuji and Olympus. Where Sony is profitable is from huge PS4 sales (gaming) and sensors that not only go into smart phones, other mfgs cameras (Nikon) but they also own the market for CCTV sensors.

  6. No price reductions in Germany. US reductions have to do with exchange rates during the last couple of months! Nothing to worry about, these are not Leica sales!!!
    Enjoy!
    John

  7. I think that Leica’s camera business is going the way of the dodo. Their products may be exquisitely made (mechanically anyway, don’t know about electronically) but digital camera bodies have a short life span before they are superceded and it doesn’t make a lot of sense to pay $7250 for a camera body that’s going to be obsolete very quickly, or, worse, get a sensor corrosion problem!!. In the film era they always had a niche and there are certainly afficionados here that will continue to lust after their every product and who will pay the asking price of ownership but dwindling numbers I’m afraid. The Sony A7 series has almost rendered the Leica camera pointless and I can only sense desperation on Leica’s part in introducing limited edition after limited edition and now this M246 when they already had the Monochrom. A few people may get the point but to me they are becoming a joke.

    They are now knocking 12% off the new prices of their lenses and when you look at the price of the 50mm F2 of $8000+ that’s quite considerable. Now you ‘only’ have to pay $7250, wow, what a bargain for a 50mm F2.0!

    The photographers who love them, love them and good luck to them but I think Leica are taking you all for a very expensive ride.

    • The Sony A7 series has not ‘rendered the Leica camera pointless’ as it does not provide the same level of quality for Leica/Zeiss wide angle lenses. I wish the A7 DID perform as well as I could have saved myself a lot of money:)

    • I totally agree with you Chris.. I have the latest M and I did buy it 2nd hand, but the M9 I did buy new. I love their glass though, but I am going to walk away from their digital offerings. It is just getting harder and harder to justify. I will sell my M soon and just begin to look at the mirrorless offerings. Maybe a 2nd hand Monochrom at the right price in the future… But the rest of it..ehhh smart money would walk away.

      • I wanted to like the Sonys, and was excited about the new A7II but just did not gel with it. I don’t like the EVF that becomes laggy in less than bright light. Hold it to your eye indoors, pan across the room and watch the image wobble. No thanks.
        All I want it a FF digital camera with the fewest controls, manual focus and an optical VF. Leica is the only one that makes a camera like that, I wish that Cosina would have made a digital version of their Ikon 35mm camera but they did not. There is a new digital RF camera in the works made by Konost that looks really cool if it ever happens.

        FYI it seems that all mfgs have various issues. Canon right now is dealing with sensor issues on their Rebel T6 DSLR (looks surprisingly like the Leica CCD issue). Sony had horrible sensor reflections on their A7 cameras, and the A7R has shutter shock. Nikon had flare issues with their D750. etc etc.

        The bottom line is that Leica does not compete with other mfgs as they do not offer the same or similar product. It seems to me the problem with Leica is that they have pushed their price point too high, almost arbitrarily it seems. A new M-A with Summicron lens is almost double the price (inflation adjusted) of the original M3 with similar lens. Which arguably is a better camera!

        if you think Leica are selling poorly, you should see the free fall that the other camera mfgs are experiencing.

        http://petapixel.com/2014/12/15/chart-shows-badly-digital-camera-sales-getting-hammered-smartphones/

        http://www.dpreview.com/articles/5928296460/canon-q4-earnings-report-shows-camera-sales-are-down

        Sony is doing well not because of camera sales, but sensor sales as it provides the sensors that the Apple iphones are using. Apparently they get $20 per iphone sensor.
        Kinda ironic that the thing that they are making money on is what is killing the camera industry.

      • When Canon developed their first rangefinder camera, the founder of Canon, movie camera repairman Goro Yoshida took a Leica model II apart to see what was inside. His quotes were:

        ‘I just disassembled the camera without any specific plan, but simply to take a look at each part. I found there were no special items like diamonds inside the camera. The parts were made from brass, aluminum, iron and rubber. I was surprised that when these inexpensive materials were put together into a camera, it demanded an exorbitant price. This made me angry’.

        What was true then is also true today!

  8. Its give and take tho. Leica raised prices (last year I think) and then cut them just now. Net, the 50 APO is $10 more expensive than before the adjustments

  9. Could it be that Sony has been kicking everyone’s butt lately, and possibly those with expendable dollars are finding that there are other small systems that rival the Leica mystic? I have been a Nikon shooter for the past 30 years and I am seriously thinking of jumping ship to Sony. Waiting for the A9, or what ever it will be called to make the final decision.

  10. Not sure if this is because they need to sell more. Over the last year the dollar value over the Euro has increased by at least 30%. For every Leica lens sold in the US they make a magnitude more money than a year ago. I think they are just adjusting to the current exchange rate. D!RK

  11. Some of this reduction may be due to the falling value of the Euro compared to the US dollar. We’ve been on the wrong side of that for years now. It would be interesting to know if the 12% also does apply to Europe as well.

    • If the monetary fluctuations were the primary reason for the price reduction, I’d feel better for Leica, but I have my doubts. It’s funny how a potential customer group reacts to this kind of thing. When Sony drops the price of their widely-popular A7 series camera, some people summise that Sony could be introducing another killer product to market. When Leica drops pricing, it’s assumed they’re doing it because their sales are down. I hope Sony introduces another pro level higher MP mirrorless that will accept the Leica wides without issues 🙂 Will be an interesting Summer!

  12. I love both worlds. I use Leica lenses on a Sony Nex 6. The Leica lenses reproduce rich, fabulous colors, clear, sharp and rival many others including some sitting on mother Leica bodies. One day I would like to put them on Leica but in the mean time I will build my lense set using the Nex 6. Works for me.

  13. I love my M’s, but to me IMO this is a direct result of Sony (and lenses) cutting into sales of the M system. Selling the rangefinder mystique and M-glass quality can only go so far.

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